Post Office aims to deliver MVNO within months

The Post Office is going ahead with plans to roll out an MVNO, Mobile understands.

A formal Request for Proposals will be issued to interested parties in the next two weeks, starting a process that could see an MVNO launched via its 11,500 branches within months.

The move follows talks with interested parties after the Post Office issued a Request for Information earlier this year. National post offices in Brazil, Portugal, France and Ireland have already launched MVNOs, with most offering a basic prepaid service.

However, telecoms sources said the UK’s Post Office is expected to set up a full MVNO, selling prepay, postpay contracts and handsets as well as following Virgin Mobile’s lead in cross-selling existing landline and broadband services alongside mobile services.

One source said: ‘The Post Office is a trusted brand that can leverage its vast customer base to great effect in its Post Office branches. It could also use its website to sell contract deals and handsets.’

The MVNO plans are part of the Post Office’s £1.3bn modernisationprogramme, launched last year, which aims to expand its products and services within Post Offices and on the Post Office website.